The latest investigation into the charges that Donald Trump’s campaign worked in concert with the Russian government exposes a cynical collaboration between Trump opponents and the FBI.
It was obvious from the outset that the russiagate conspiracy theory was so absurd, so ludicrous, it would have gotten its proponents laughed out of The John Birch Society in 1962. For one thing, it required Putin both to have powers bordering on psychic mind control, and at the same time, no clue how to use his superpowers.
Something I wrote some years back:
*sigh* For most people most of the time, the fastest and surest way to wind up dead or seriously disadvantaged has been at the hands of our fellow humans. At the same time, "our group", whether by faith, family, tribe, regiment, whatever, are the people we can trust to have our back.
Therefore, whatever else happens, whatever we have to do, believe absurdities, blindly follow barking insane leaders, parrot obvious lies to our detriment, do or suffer terrible things, but please whatever you do, please don't kick us out of the group!
Those who have lived in the Third World and in developed countries should have a light come on about now.
What this also means is that when we are presented with incontrovertible proof that the group narrative is wrong or that the group leaders are mad or charlatans or worse, rather than change leaders or change beliefs or change groups, most people, most of the time will instead double down. Witness the behavior of cultists.
The process is called "cognitive dissonance" and it is abundantly documented. As alluded to earlier, there are entire religions organized around the principle.
Cognitive dissonance is not limited to stupid people. In fact, the intelligent are at least as prone, perhaps because they are better at rationalizing. In fact, much so-called "knowledge work" is basically learning symbol manipulation in order to rationalize something.
My brother hated Trump, and it was a pathological hate. When he hears about the Durham report it will be from Rachel Madow who will help him with any doubts he might entertain, although I think even left on his own he will simply dismiss the Durham report, or rationalize what was done and think it was for the best. It will be easy since I'm sure the mainstream media will help resolve any anxiety that the truth bares, and then everything will go back to normal. Trump, as former president Carter said was not an American president, but a Russian one, since they elected him into office. I asked a fourth cousin on Facebook who strongly supported the Iraq war how she can justify all the death we caused on a lie. She told me Hussein caused the death of his people, and we are only responsible for the death of the American soldiers. She said emphatically he was unable to protect them. You would think the poor thing never went to school, and was on the slow side, but she works in the administration of the Health Dept and her husband is a doctor. No rational argument could reverse her opinion. Truth as they say, be damned.
have you ever held on to a belief despite the evidence? I was 11 years old and knew that if I acknowledged that Santa didnt exist it meant my gifts might stop.
No, I swear, maybe that's why I wound up teaching science. I may have believed things that weren't true, and thought they were, but holding on to something as true knowing it's a lie, no. Well, I do remember waking up and finding my mother in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve making me a dress, and I said to her I thought Santa was going to give me a new dress, and she told me she was one of his helpers, and I did believe her. Well, nobody's perfect.
One can believe whatever they want. The issue is what do they know?
Distinguishing beiefs and assumptions from conclusions and evidence is the task of critical thinking.
I would imagine that the people who believe in Santa Klaus and still believe in Russiagate suffer from the same ilness: they have no pasion for evidence and cannot refute it when presented and thus engage in fallacies.
Why? They were told by what they consider authority.
But birds born in cages think birds that fly are crazy.
Rusiagate is a grim reflection of the fall of Empire.
I was just communicating with someone interested in genealogy, as I am, and If you find one person in a family who is, and is willing to do research, well that's great, and better yet is to find anyone else in the family who cares. So when it comes to the news and what's going on in this world there are very few who are willing to pursue truth, and now journalists don't help because they are payed not to tell it. Unfortunately those who operate independently like Amy Goodman, didn't do such a good job during the Trump years, and were the greatest disappointment to me, since I totally gave up mainstream news in the beginning of our destruction of the Middle East, and wasn't that much of a fan before. I don't think people in general are that focused on intellectual pursuits and so politics is more of a religion, and now it seems it's become a cultist faith for most. That's the way my brother comes across, although he wasn't like that before Trump. I think many in the news media including the left with their lack of any objectivity in their own feelings about Trump made the problem much worse. They turned him into the devil, so to speak, and identified his followers as bad, or evil, or as Hilary would say deplorabels. Hard for many to recognize that Obama was no liberal, started wars, , killed people with drones, and now, we know he was briefed on the Russia-gate hoax, and so many had their dreams dashed when Kilary didn't become the first female president, and some were even surprised the FBI was in on it. Oh, well, so be it.
Thank you for personalizing the abstract world we live in.
No, few want truth.
It is kind of like what the Groucho Marx of the Enlightenment, Voltaire of France stated:
“I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way.”
— Voltaire
And yes, politics is a constant grind and wears one down both in expectations and diminishment of power.
And the Hillary fiasco did dash the hopes of liberals.
As to Amy Goodman et. al. they live off of grant monies now, even though they play the beggar and ask for donations.
They are part of the controlled opposition paid for and brought to us as NGO's, just like the NGO's operate in S. America.
They are part of the problem as is all bourgeois liberalism for it is incompatible with democracy, as Hitler and the fascists know and knew so well.
Bougeoise liberalism is the outgrowth of capitalism.
Parliamentary democracies are not old insitutions, they are tied to capitalism.
But like we saw in Germany in the 1930's under Weimar, bourgeoise democracy fails when capitalism is in crisis.
At that point what is needed is fascism for it is a managerial plan for failed capitalism.
And failed capitalism is where we are.
We have the Rainbow-techno fascism of Biden and the corporatocarcy and white-settler ethic nationalism of Bannon and Trump.
One projects a myhical past, the other a mythical future.
They fight among themselves and have nothing to do with our needs and wants.
I am afraid that the lack of a truly Marxist analysis and clear, socialist platform has degenerated into identiy politics and cultural wars, along with outright fascists.
This is intentional, of course.
And quoting Voltaire from the fading era of the Enlightenment, again:
“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”
— Voltaire
“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
"Why? They were told by what they consider authority." True and in addition, changing some believes may bring economic loss and status within the group. I think that is the reason MAGAs fundamentalists cannot change and I suspect some of them still believe in Santa and perhaps that the moon is made of Swiss cheese.
The 11 year old example you give contains a logical fallacy in your evidence for us justifiably believing in fairy tales.. The causal relationship you establish between A & B ignores the fact that
A: If acknowledging Santa doesn't exist
B: means your gifts "might" stop
Why? Because there is just as much chance that they "might" NOT stop.
Besides, what evidence did you have at 11 that Santa didn't exist? Further, this begs the two questions:
1. At what point is their enough evidence to objectionably disbelieve a fairy tale.
2. What is the difference between innocent belief in a fairly tale and delusional thinking? 12 years of age? 18 years of age? 60?
self serving ignorance was a factor in not wanting to acknowledge what I knew was more likely a truth (defin in the dictionary said "fantasy"). I acknowledged it when the group think consensus was more valuable than the gifts.
Classic "double think" believing in both opposites. Orwell's warnings of human frailties. Duplicity and Self Interest by the masters of men harness and use blind patriotism the same way. As in "My Country Right or Wrong" ignoring the real meaning of such drivel, such as "My Mother Drunk or Sober"!
One can believe anything they want. The issue is when those that adopt a belief attempt to force feed that belief on everyone else despite the harm it would cause and despite the fact that the belief is myth and not based on facts.
The myths we tell children are different. Often they are developmental metaphors.
Mythology is useful in cultural adhesion and tribal longevity. Read Joseph Campbell. However it is the mythology of history that does this... not progressive made-up new mythology.
I know what it means, but what do you mean by asking this question? My brother tends to prevent any uncomfortable contradictory feelings enter his emotional self by not allowing people to speak the truth, or present anything which in opposition to his belief system, so Rachel Maddow, and definitely not Hedges, or this article. You couldn't even bring up Trump's name. It got, and still is as crazy as that.
To be more wordy in my response, my brother doesn't even allow any conflicting information to come anywhere near him. He's normal, but you can't even say Trump's name, or be critical of anyone affiliated with the Biden administration. it's crazy.
He suffers from what is called the fallacious mind.
It looks to confirm its beliefs and then circle the wagon around them not allowing any evidence that they do not agree with come into their consciousness.
"To those born later
“Really, I live in dark times!
The guileless word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Indicates insensitivity. The laughing man
Has not yet received
Only not yet received.
What are these times when
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
Because it includes a silence about so many misdeeds!
Yeah, that's why we humans generally suck at sniffing out bull$hit. However, in this case the odious Trump character and the related 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' plays a big role. I have several otherwise smart friends that bought the Russiagate crap and there was NOTHING you could do to make them see the light. Scary as hell.
"What this also means is that when we are presented with incontrovertible proof that the group narrative is wrong or that the group leaders are mad or charlatans or worse, rather than change leaders or change beliefs or change groups, most people, most of the time will instead double down. Witness the behavior of cultist."
Anything that interferes with the self-justifying assumptions that many people have about the world is dismissed at once.
It is the policeman in our heads as Burroughs noted long ago.
I don't believe what you are describing as "cognitive dissonance" is such; certainly not with respect to masses clinging to Russia Gate.
I believe what you alluding to in your "cult" example is what George Orwell coined as "Doublethink". According to Robert J. King (Ph.D.), writing in a Psychology Today in an article called "Dissonant Cognitions" (published Feb 20, 2020) King says, simply: "Double think is the suppression of the natural human tendency to be bothered by logical contradiction." This makes far more sense to me in terms of the phenomena, or the "process" you discuss.
Thus, i think you are confusing the two mental applications...and merging them to be the same. They are not. While I concede that Cult leaders (the few) may experience cognitive dissonance when any of their cult predictions or orthodoxy presents itself as false or illogical (which very well may be, as you say, resolved in their own minds by "doubling down"), their devoted followers (the many) tend toward "Doublethink" and cling to the cult orthodoxy whatever the change in reality...or stated excuse. In other words, the masses practicing Doublethink never experience or, as King says, are never "bothered by cognitive dissonance". That's because, in poker parlance, they are perpetually "all in".
That's a good argument against democracy. Problem is, what do you replace it with in civilization? Living in very small numbers would be a good solution (everyone in the communities would know and talk to each other, making pulling BS a lot more difficult), but there are far too many people on the planet for a substantial number to live like that. I don't have a solution here except for greatly lowering human population, which would take hundreds of years even if we all started limiting our families to one child immediately.
George Lakoff's work showed that people make decisions based on how they FEEL, not on facts. Feelings SHOULD be a big part of our consciousness, but proven facts can't just be ignored if you want to make a sane, rational decision. Republicans learned decades ago how to manipulate voters based on feelings, now Democrats have apparently learned the same thing.
I don't disagree. In fact, the 2014 Princeton study showed that we live in an oligarchy, not a democracy. But I wasn't commenting on the U.S., I was commenting on democracy in general.
I wouldn't even mind dictatorship if the dictators were wise, empathetic, and smart, and they governed in the best interests of the people and the environment. Unfortunately, that type of dictator doesn't exist.
Chris, I agree with everything you say and think, except that you still don't understand that the "climate emergency" was the most successful concoction and psyop created in the last 50 years. You remain hypnotized by this narrative and owe it to yourself to look to the science and scientists who have resisted and haven't been corrupted by this blind belief. Climate always changes, but it's not our doing and it's not an emergency that can't be handled in the normal course of our capabilities
Evidence please! Sources! And while you’re listing them, let us know what and how many science courses you’ve completed….we wouldn’t want to be ‘corrupted by blind belief”. Thanks.
How many science courses wouldn't matter among climate emergency deniers : ""Wisdom is not communicable. the wisdom which the wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it."
From Michio Kaku's book "The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth"
"Since the end of the last glacial period about ten thousand years ago, the Earth has been gradually warming up. However, over the past half century, the Earth has been heating at an alarming and accelerating rate. We see evidence of this on numerous fronts: · Every major glacier on the Earth is receding · The northern polar ice has thinned by an average of 50 percent over the past fifty years · Large parts of Greenland, which is covered by the world’s second-largest ice sheet, are thawing out · A section of Antarctica the size of Delaware, the Larsen Ice Shelf C, broke off in 2017, and the stability of the ice sheets and ice shelves is now in question · The last few years have been the hottest ever recorded in human history · The Earth’s average temperature has increased by about 1.3 degrees Celsius in the past century · On average, summer is about one week longer than it was in the past · We are seeing more and more “one-hundred-year events,” such as forest fires, floods, droughts, and hurricanes".
This facts need no more comment other that the continuing increases in our A/C bills and home owners insurance cost. This crisis IS URGENT a can be handled by voting for smart, uncorrupted and humanity loving politicians.
Painful to say this, but not only is my country the greatest purveyor of violence on earth at this time, but it is also the greatest purveyor of idiotic propaganda. Even more painful is the fact that most fellow citizens are unaware if either fact. Nothing new in the Durham report, but why was it released now?
It should of course been released earlier, but as they say better late then never. Maybe if it had been released earlier Trump and not Biden would have won in 2020, which is an indictment of Durham who moves very slowly especially when nothing really new is in the report, or wasn't know before.
I think there were two charges brought by Durham that he was hoping to bolster the report’s credibility. I don’t remember the specifics, but the timing of the release of the report was affected by the slow court process. Ultimately his inability to get guilty verdicts will be seized by the true believers as evidence that the investigation was unnecessary.
I am no fan of Trump, but the extra-legal practices that his unexpected 2016 election exposed ought to make a lot of liberals and moderates uncomfortable.
Now you see, the question belies some misunderstanding of the situation. What I knew is a pile of evidence that has developed mostly from the Twitter Files. However, there was a lot of bad behavior suspected but without clear evidence. The Durham report puts a nail the coffin of a partially well-decomposed body of evidence. Now we know, we can say we know... and those that continue to push the lie are specifically guilty of intellectual dishonesty... a moral crime FAR worse than is cult-belief ignorance.
Why released now? To be used as a cudgel by DOJ on the FBI, who are afraid of being defunded, and who are seeing the utility of standing up on their hind legs and attacking administration corruption. Bulldogs fighting under the carpet.
Almost never mentioned when discussing *actual* and *effective* foreign influence in American elections is Israel. Or dare I dispense with the "almost", at least in the mainstream news and journalism ecosystem.
LOL I'm surprised morons think that kind of false smear, lacking any proof whatsoever, still works. Well, I guess it did with the scope and scale you were able to get Corbyn with; and of course the subject of today's article. Anyway, take it up with these raving anti-Semites at The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-israel-collusion/
Soros owns The Nation? US Senators? Talk about someone living rent free in one's head. LOL if you think Soros is the reason that most of us that recognize the crimes of Israel, aided and abetted by the US and UK, then you're completely delusional.
Does Israel have "the right to exist"? That isn't for me to determine. All I can say is that their actions, in their region, will dictate the terms of their existence. Things aren't looking good for them at the moment. I read an interesting article somewhere the other day talking about how, by giving nearly full leeway to the ultra-orthodox sects in their settlement building, which of course entails stealing even more land and property from Palestinian Arabs, for so many years the liberal Zionists who have historically kept Israel's worst impulses in check have ceded control to the far right Zionists who now control most of the government. In this period, many of the more educated liberal/centrist Israelis have left the country for Europe and elsewhere leaving behind a growing majority of far-right ultra-orthodox, and frankly backwards uneducated (except in certain religious and ultra-nationalist scripts) hyper-religious regressive nutjobs. So even without the issues with Hamas and the Palestinians, Israeli society has fractured and might not be repairable.
Do I think a settler-colonial apartheid state has the right to exist? Not in its present form, no. If by some miracle they reformed, admitted they have nukes and abided by international (or their own stated) laws? Sure, why not?
So you are clearly an antisemite and terrorism sympathizer. Your support of the corrupt and murderous Palestinian regime over Israel, a country that has given more to the world since its founding than have all Muslim nations combined when subtracting the global cost of Islamic terrorism and oil money corruption, is a clear marker. You go to bed hating Israel and wake up hating Israel... and what it really means is that you hate Jews and want them exterminated.
It is not looking good for Israel only because your kind have again multiplied and have seized a level of power. It is too early to claim your victory. Things are not looking good for the future of woke antisemitism.
Ah, so you're a Hasbarat. Ever heard of the Nakba? Was that justified?
My kind? As I laid out in my previous reply it's the exact opposite of my kind that are now in control and to whom the demographic shift away from European Ashkenazi liberal Jews and toward ultra-Zionist, ultra-nationalist, ultra-orthodox uneducated settlers and land thieves will grant almost total future power.
“Right to their homeland” LOL. Do you have any statute of limitations for those corrections? So only people with adequate indigenous ties to land should live there and the rest should be expelled? Wow, what a fucked up world that would make. You should start… do your DNA test and get the fuck out of here and go where you belong instead of occupying space that isn’t yours.
Here’s the thing. Palestinians suck victim Kool Aide like do American liberals and their low capability “care” subjects. Israel with all its faults is an order of magnitude more valuable to the world than are the Palestinians. Part of the problem is Islam. It needs a reformation. Name an Islamic country today that is a positive add to the world… without oil money. Turkey maybe. Injecting more Islam into Israel would make it self-destruct. Just like injecting more liberal progressive into American cities are making them self destruct.
And stupid idea about returning the Black Hills. You must know it is 2023, right?
All of which you write hurts, deeply. A visit to Seattle a couple years ago shocked. The explosion of houseless people with their fragile cramped tents all over the place where the land was level astonished. And reminded me of fotos of refugee camp villages. Our own people, refugees in the land of their birth. How can anyone taking that fact in not realize the brutality of our free enterprise corporatized system must be stopped?
I was interviewed (and interrogated and intimidated) by an FBI agent, along with a Homeland Security investigator and a Hunterdon County Prosecutor, at my home, for merely taking photographs of oil refineries and chemical plants along the Delaware River ("critical infrastructure"). They openly accused me of possibly being a domestic terrorist. (and this was AFTER I had been detained by several local, State, and private police forces, photographed, and questioned for over an hour about the incident, including illegally searching my car and seizing personal documents).
The fact that no FBI agents interviewed witnesses and investigated these claims before the FBI launched a major federal criminal investigation is strong evidence of blatant abuse of power.
Good point. Note that absolutely no consequences for the FBI malfeasance are suggested in the 'report'. When the FBI lies to the public, when the CIA lies to the public, when the president lies to the public and these folks abuse their power there are NO consequences, except for a (maybe) belated mealy-mouthed report. Accountability ends where US Government begins.
Truth matters. Thank you Chris Hedges for this piece. It needs to said again and again. The Russia Gate story was lies, it was manipulation, it was a violation of public trust. And yet no one has been held accountable. The liberal media ( Deep state propaganda machine?) doesnt even cover the story much less apologize for their role or excoriate the actors. Come has a documentary on Netflix that makes him out to be a hero. Hilary still gets hundreds of thousands of dollars to give speeches.
I always get so much out of your work. Thanks for publishing this. I understand and mostly agree with the irrationality of our system here in the US. Today so much of that comes from a merged force, in my opinion, of the neo-cons (free market) and Christian fundamentalists and those quite happy with very low union density and an over abundance of corporate control.
It doesn’t matter whether you are pro USA or pro-Russian. both Donald Trump (you’re fired) and Putin are of the same mold. So are Netanyahu, Orban, etc. these are politicians who are authoritarian, bullies, who are bought by these neo-cons and religious fundamentalists. It’s a very organized force. With many, many billionaires’ support.
I too think we are on the cusp of totalitarian and religious fundamentalist rule. Here in Fl. It’s almost fiat complete.
The essence of Chris H. article is simply that it is not ok to lie, even about a potential demagogue like DT. The lies lead to mistrust of the systems meant to safeguard the truths. The truth tellers are ostracized and destroyed.
Trump all by himself is a menace . No one had to tell me this or talk me into believing it .
Im sorry but the idea that every investigation of Donald Trump is drummed up by devious Democrats forming a ‘witch hunt ‘ because they don’t like Donald is an interesting theory . And laying blame for inequality at the feet of Democrats is way too easy .
The Federalist Society, the Koch Brothers have been buying up supreme Court Justices and laying out the plans for continuing to serve the wealthiest Americans .
They’ve gerrymandered
Maps , attempted to overthrow a free election with Trumps encouragement .
Im not saying the US in general is a paradise. I understand that there have been many situations where corruption has ruled .
This article however conveys that all of the bad is because of Democrats and the FBI . Sorry i just cant see it .
This might all be, BUT THE TRUTH HAS TO STAY THE TRUTH (and this RussiaHysteria brought us an escalating and totally unnecessary war with an ever growing possibility for a nuclear WW3)
As Chris has said the Rise of Trump demagoguery was from income inequality and a precarious future of low wages and under employment. The one thing that many people miss is who seeded the future MAGA for all the wrong reasons. I will lay a lot of the blame on Koch brother dark money and the Tea Party. Their followers were horrified with this "revolution" and election of the first black president Obama and started a counter- revolution. The Koch mindset goes way back to the Coconut Grove millionaires and the John Birch Society power elite. The Koch led cohort of the dark money takeover of municipal then state politics led directly to the rise of a Trump like figure. He is their Frankenstein, a flawed child of privilege who did all their dirty work. Tax cuts for the rich, stacking the Supreme Court, Unquestioning support for Israel, Anti Labor, Anti healthcare, Anti Social Safety net, Pro Oil, Pro coal, Deregulation, Anti Science and Anti Public School to name a few. The MAGA sheep nodding in some kind of drugged miasma that make their lot in life even worse. Like the the animal "volk" in Orwell's Animal Farm. Propaganda dogma turned on a dime from "Four legs good, Two legs bad" into "Four legs Good, Two legs Better" without their notice. The power of Jim Crow thinking was/is a divide and conquer move to rule. Working poor whites have a lot more in common with working poor blacks than Trump and his Puppet Master Oligarchs that control both parties with the same Benjamins, stolen from blacks and whites alike! As LBJ once said "tell a poor white shareholder that he is better than a Ni--er", you can steal his money forever".
Thanks for the article. It helped to put all the "noise" around this issue in perspective. It helps to explain the "Putin is the devil and Hitler" myths along with others, e.g., the war in Ukraine has a military solution to bring us closer to peace.
Binary thinking coupled with American Exceptionalism is ignorance in action and as Goethe once said: "There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance in action."
You are right, the myths and lack of critical thinking is alarming.
LOL. I hope that was sarcasm. Almost everything in that 2018 book is disproven by the Mueller and Durham reports. If anything, it was Israel that worked hard to interfere on Trump's behalf, but Abramson is just as hung up on the Russia myth as those Hedges mentions in this article. Perfect example, actually, of someone so convinced of a foregone, preconceived notion that they will work backwards and engage in any type of mental gymnastics necessary to prove they are right.
"Abramson has also held on to his pet theories. On his podcast, and in his first Proof book, he makes arguments based on the Steele dossier. (Remember the Steele dossier? You know, the pee tape thing.) The reliability of the Steele dossier is, to put it mildly, in question; a report by Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, found that the dossier was dubious, unvetted, and shady as hell. Of course, people still believe it and defend it—Abramson continues to cling to it uncritically—but the point is: it falls short of proof. Journalism, of the meta or curatorial sort, isn’t worth much if it can’t meet that standard. And that’s the trouble with Abramson’s interpretive threads. Pull on any one of them, and the whole tapestry unravels."
Even the WaPo guy who was part of the Pulitzer winning team has to admit that there is no proof of anything. The truth is, Abramson should be made to remove the word "Proof" from the title of that book.
Competing narratives here devolve into myopic distortions to paint a one-sided picture.
Perhaps it stems from a valid alarm at the demonization of Russia and the insanity of the Ukrainian war. But twisting history never seems a good idea.
The false equivalence here with QAnon stuns me. Are we to doubt that Felix Sater’s, Deripaska’s, and Moguleyvich’s dollars had influence? That the delivery of the Republican GOP voter demos to a Russian intelligence agency happened? That the Mueller report, far from exonerating Trump, actually stopped short of indictment because senior Trump team members and Trump himself could not be compelled to testify under oath, and because Barr and others believe a sitting President cannot be indicted?
It does seem that the defeat of Clinton was not solely or even mainly the work of Russians. FB and Cambridge Analytica had a part in the Russian ops too. But the biggest factor has been the decades of perfidious corruption of the Democratic Party, which betrays its base over and over, yes.
But the Russian ops in collaboration with others such as Israel and MBZ, in alliance with who lost out when the Gasprom alliance fell to sanctions, surely made a difference on the margins. Hedges myopia here seems odd.
I used to think most people were like me... able to wade through the BS and snake oil and come to a logical conclusions based only on the big picture of facts and truth.
Wow is all I can say to this epiphany that people could be so easily and completely indoctrinated into a new media mythology that they then refuse to let go.
I also used to think that the founders were overly excitable over the prospects of destructive tyranny and all its forms after western civilization entered the era of modernity. With rare exception, my class mates, coworkers and neighbors all seemed normal and rational. But now many of those same people literally froth at the mouth in anger at anyone that would claim Trump-Russia collusion was a big lie and coup attempt by the nation's elite political class.
Today, in addition to my understanding that we need to defeat these people and their mythology, I have a greater appreciation for how the Great Experiment has lasted this long given the proven propensity for the "smartest" members of our population to be so easily sucked into a self-destructive worldview.
Your post is a fascinating example of someone that can offer a coherent explanation of the social chaos we live in, yet be completely out on another planet on a specific topic. I found your anti-Palestinian posts inexcusable and intellectually dishonest.
Soros and others have been investing in pro Palestinan anti Israel media narratives. I consider it all part of the set of the same elite luxury worldview that is purposely destructive to western civilization. I will admit that my knowledge of the Palestinan vs Israel conflict is weaker than other topics. But the Palestinans still talk about wiping Israel off the map and have rejected all two state deals... and hence are on my shit list.
In that case, your knowledge of the conflict is not up to the standard of the rest of your studies. My favorite book on this subject is Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. He's an Israeli historian that took tremendous shit for laying out what actually happened at the birth of the State of Israel.
Your recitals about Palestinian rejections of peace deals are incorrect. And there is no two state solution possible anymore, because of the settlers.
I so hope people wake up soon. It's such a sad time with all the lies and corruption and the curtains of the myth that is America are pulled and America is not at all what most people think it is. It just leaves a heavy sadness on the heart and it also makes one so angry. It doesn't have to be this way, but there's just too many greed filled, power mad people in the world.
It was obvious from the outset that the russiagate conspiracy theory was so absurd, so ludicrous, it would have gotten its proponents laughed out of The John Birch Society in 1962. For one thing, it required Putin both to have powers bordering on psychic mind control, and at the same time, no clue how to use his superpowers.
Something I wrote some years back:
*sigh* For most people most of the time, the fastest and surest way to wind up dead or seriously disadvantaged has been at the hands of our fellow humans. At the same time, "our group", whether by faith, family, tribe, regiment, whatever, are the people we can trust to have our back.
Therefore, whatever else happens, whatever we have to do, believe absurdities, blindly follow barking insane leaders, parrot obvious lies to our detriment, do or suffer terrible things, but please whatever you do, please don't kick us out of the group!
Those who have lived in the Third World and in developed countries should have a light come on about now.
What this also means is that when we are presented with incontrovertible proof that the group narrative is wrong or that the group leaders are mad or charlatans or worse, rather than change leaders or change beliefs or change groups, most people, most of the time will instead double down. Witness the behavior of cultists.
The process is called "cognitive dissonance" and it is abundantly documented. As alluded to earlier, there are entire religions organized around the principle.
Cognitive dissonance is not limited to stupid people. In fact, the intelligent are at least as prone, perhaps because they are better at rationalizing. In fact, much so-called "knowledge work" is basically learning symbol manipulation in order to rationalize something.
My brother hated Trump, and it was a pathological hate. When he hears about the Durham report it will be from Rachel Madow who will help him with any doubts he might entertain, although I think even left on his own he will simply dismiss the Durham report, or rationalize what was done and think it was for the best. It will be easy since I'm sure the mainstream media will help resolve any anxiety that the truth bares, and then everything will go back to normal. Trump, as former president Carter said was not an American president, but a Russian one, since they elected him into office. I asked a fourth cousin on Facebook who strongly supported the Iraq war how she can justify all the death we caused on a lie. She told me Hussein caused the death of his people, and we are only responsible for the death of the American soldiers. She said emphatically he was unable to protect them. You would think the poor thing never went to school, and was on the slow side, but she works in the administration of the Health Dept and her husband is a doctor. No rational argument could reverse her opinion. Truth as they say, be damned.
have you ever held on to a belief despite the evidence? I was 11 years old and knew that if I acknowledged that Santa didnt exist it meant my gifts might stop.
No, I swear, maybe that's why I wound up teaching science. I may have believed things that weren't true, and thought they were, but holding on to something as true knowing it's a lie, no. Well, I do remember waking up and finding my mother in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve making me a dress, and I said to her I thought Santa was going to give me a new dress, and she told me she was one of his helpers, and I did believe her. Well, nobody's perfect.
One can believe whatever they want. The issue is what do they know?
Distinguishing beiefs and assumptions from conclusions and evidence is the task of critical thinking.
I would imagine that the people who believe in Santa Klaus and still believe in Russiagate suffer from the same ilness: they have no pasion for evidence and cannot refute it when presented and thus engage in fallacies.
Why? They were told by what they consider authority.
But birds born in cages think birds that fly are crazy.
Rusiagate is a grim reflection of the fall of Empire.
I was just communicating with someone interested in genealogy, as I am, and If you find one person in a family who is, and is willing to do research, well that's great, and better yet is to find anyone else in the family who cares. So when it comes to the news and what's going on in this world there are very few who are willing to pursue truth, and now journalists don't help because they are payed not to tell it. Unfortunately those who operate independently like Amy Goodman, didn't do such a good job during the Trump years, and were the greatest disappointment to me, since I totally gave up mainstream news in the beginning of our destruction of the Middle East, and wasn't that much of a fan before. I don't think people in general are that focused on intellectual pursuits and so politics is more of a religion, and now it seems it's become a cultist faith for most. That's the way my brother comes across, although he wasn't like that before Trump. I think many in the news media including the left with their lack of any objectivity in their own feelings about Trump made the problem much worse. They turned him into the devil, so to speak, and identified his followers as bad, or evil, or as Hilary would say deplorabels. Hard for many to recognize that Obama was no liberal, started wars, , killed people with drones, and now, we know he was briefed on the Russia-gate hoax, and so many had their dreams dashed when Kilary didn't become the first female president, and some were even surprised the FBI was in on it. Oh, well, so be it.
Thank you for personalizing the abstract world we live in.
No, few want truth.
It is kind of like what the Groucho Marx of the Enlightenment, Voltaire of France stated:
“I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way.”
— Voltaire
And yes, politics is a constant grind and wears one down both in expectations and diminishment of power.
And the Hillary fiasco did dash the hopes of liberals.
As to Amy Goodman et. al. they live off of grant monies now, even though they play the beggar and ask for donations.
They are part of the controlled opposition paid for and brought to us as NGO's, just like the NGO's operate in S. America.
They are part of the problem as is all bourgeois liberalism for it is incompatible with democracy, as Hitler and the fascists know and knew so well.
Bougeoise liberalism is the outgrowth of capitalism.
Parliamentary democracies are not old insitutions, they are tied to capitalism.
But like we saw in Germany in the 1930's under Weimar, bourgeoise democracy fails when capitalism is in crisis.
At that point what is needed is fascism for it is a managerial plan for failed capitalism.
And failed capitalism is where we are.
We have the Rainbow-techno fascism of Biden and the corporatocarcy and white-settler ethic nationalism of Bannon and Trump.
One projects a myhical past, the other a mythical future.
They fight among themselves and have nothing to do with our needs and wants.
I am afraid that the lack of a truly Marxist analysis and clear, socialist platform has degenerated into identiy politics and cultural wars, along with outright fascists.
This is intentional, of course.
And quoting Voltaire from the fading era of the Enlightenment, again:
“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”
— Voltaire
“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
— Voltaire
"Why? They were told by what they consider authority." True and in addition, changing some believes may bring economic loss and status within the group. I think that is the reason MAGAs fundamentalists cannot change and I suspect some of them still believe in Santa and perhaps that the moon is made of Swiss cheese.
The 11 year old example you give contains a logical fallacy in your evidence for us justifiably believing in fairy tales.. The causal relationship you establish between A & B ignores the fact that
A: If acknowledging Santa doesn't exist
B: means your gifts "might" stop
Why? Because there is just as much chance that they "might" NOT stop.
Besides, what evidence did you have at 11 that Santa didn't exist? Further, this begs the two questions:
1. At what point is their enough evidence to objectionably disbelieve a fairy tale.
2. What is the difference between innocent belief in a fairly tale and delusional thinking? 12 years of age? 18 years of age? 60?
self serving ignorance was a factor in not wanting to acknowledge what I knew was more likely a truth (defin in the dictionary said "fantasy"). I acknowledged it when the group think consensus was more valuable than the gifts.
Classic "double think" believing in both opposites. Orwell's warnings of human frailties. Duplicity and Self Interest by the masters of men harness and use blind patriotism the same way. As in "My Country Right or Wrong" ignoring the real meaning of such drivel, such as "My Mother Drunk or Sober"!
I see. Appears similar to the behavior I witnessed on the recent Netflix documentary "Chimp Empire".
One can believe anything they want. The issue is when those that adopt a belief attempt to force feed that belief on everyone else despite the harm it would cause and despite the fact that the belief is myth and not based on facts.
The myths we tell children are different. Often they are developmental metaphors.
Mythology is useful in cultural adhesion and tribal longevity. Read Joseph Campbell. However it is the mythology of history that does this... not progressive made-up new mythology.
Cognitive dissonance, how does it work?
I know what it means, but what do you mean by asking this question? My brother tends to prevent any uncomfortable contradictory feelings enter his emotional self by not allowing people to speak the truth, or present anything which in opposition to his belief system, so Rachel Maddow, and definitely not Hedges, or this article. You couldn't even bring up Trump's name. It got, and still is as crazy as that.
I was asking a rhetorical question.
To be more wordy in my response, my brother doesn't even allow any conflicting information to come anywhere near him. He's normal, but you can't even say Trump's name, or be critical of anyone affiliated with the Biden administration. it's crazy.
He suffers from what is called the fallacious mind.
It looks to confirm its beliefs and then circle the wagon around them not allowing any evidence that they do not agree with come into their consciousness.
"To those born later
“Really, I live in dark times!
The guileless word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Indicates insensitivity. The laughing man
Has not yet received
Only not yet received.
What are these times when
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
Because it includes a silence about so many misdeeds!
He who walks quietly across the street
Is probably no longer accessible to his friends
Who are in need?”
Bertolt Brecht, June 1939
https://www.globalresearch.ca/we-should-have-known-to-those-born-later/5739195
He was speaking to US!
Okay,
I get it.
Yeah, that's why we humans generally suck at sniffing out bull$hit. However, in this case the odious Trump character and the related 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' plays a big role. I have several otherwise smart friends that bought the Russiagate crap and there was NOTHING you could do to make them see the light. Scary as hell.
FWIW, I didn't vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020 (not did I vote Team D) but I call balls and strikes.
"What this also means is that when we are presented with incontrovertible proof that the group narrative is wrong or that the group leaders are mad or charlatans or worse, rather than change leaders or change beliefs or change groups, most people, most of the time will instead double down. Witness the behavior of cultist."
Anything that interferes with the self-justifying assumptions that many people have about the world is dismissed at once.
It is the policeman in our heads as Burroughs noted long ago.
I don't believe what you are describing as "cognitive dissonance" is such; certainly not with respect to masses clinging to Russia Gate.
I believe what you alluding to in your "cult" example is what George Orwell coined as "Doublethink". According to Robert J. King (Ph.D.), writing in a Psychology Today in an article called "Dissonant Cognitions" (published Feb 20, 2020) King says, simply: "Double think is the suppression of the natural human tendency to be bothered by logical contradiction." This makes far more sense to me in terms of the phenomena, or the "process" you discuss.
Thus, i think you are confusing the two mental applications...and merging them to be the same. They are not. While I concede that Cult leaders (the few) may experience cognitive dissonance when any of their cult predictions or orthodoxy presents itself as false or illogical (which very well may be, as you say, resolved in their own minds by "doubling down"), their devoted followers (the many) tend toward "Doublethink" and cling to the cult orthodoxy whatever the change in reality...or stated excuse. In other words, the masses practicing Doublethink never experience or, as King says, are never "bothered by cognitive dissonance". That's because, in poker parlance, they are perpetually "all in".
Double think is cognitive dissonance
To you, it might be. To psychology professionals, it isn't. Perhaps you're suffering from it.
Ad hominems is all you have. "Might' and 'perhaps' all words of the uncritical mind.
And this is the real problem: it is not Biden or Trump.
We met the enemy and it is us. Pogo
That's a good argument against democracy. Problem is, what do you replace it with in civilization? Living in very small numbers would be a good solution (everyone in the communities would know and talk to each other, making pulling BS a lot more difficult), but there are far too many people on the planet for a substantial number to live like that. I don't have a solution here except for greatly lowering human population, which would take hundreds of years even if we all started limiting our families to one child immediately.
George Lakoff's work showed that people make decisions based on how they FEEL, not on facts. Feelings SHOULD be a big part of our consciousness, but proven facts can't just be ignored if you want to make a sane, rational decision. Republicans learned decades ago how to manipulate voters based on feelings, now Democrats have apparently learned the same thing.
For one thing, we in the United States do not live in a democracy or a democratic republic.
We live in an oligarchy with de facto unlimited political bribery for those who can afford pricey lawyers.
I don't disagree. In fact, the 2014 Princeton study showed that we live in an oligarchy, not a democracy. But I wasn't commenting on the U.S., I was commenting on democracy in general.
I suspect that The Iron Law Of Oligarchy wins in the end.
I wouldn't even mind dictatorship if the dictators were wise, empathetic, and smart, and they governed in the best interests of the people and the environment. Unfortunately, that type of dictator doesn't exist.
The Kingdom Of Heaven is not a democracy.
That said, power attracts sociopaths the way catnip attracts cats. Even an enlightened despot wouldn't stay in power for long.
Chris, I agree with everything you say and think, except that you still don't understand that the "climate emergency" was the most successful concoction and psyop created in the last 50 years. You remain hypnotized by this narrative and owe it to yourself to look to the science and scientists who have resisted and haven't been corrupted by this blind belief. Climate always changes, but it's not our doing and it's not an emergency that can't be handled in the normal course of our capabilities
Evidence please! Sources! And while you’re listing them, let us know what and how many science courses you’ve completed….we wouldn’t want to be ‘corrupted by blind belief”. Thanks.
How many science courses wouldn't matter among climate emergency deniers : ""Wisdom is not communicable. the wisdom which the wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it."
Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha.
From Michio Kaku's book "The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth"
"Since the end of the last glacial period about ten thousand years ago, the Earth has been gradually warming up. However, over the past half century, the Earth has been heating at an alarming and accelerating rate. We see evidence of this on numerous fronts: · Every major glacier on the Earth is receding · The northern polar ice has thinned by an average of 50 percent over the past fifty years · Large parts of Greenland, which is covered by the world’s second-largest ice sheet, are thawing out · A section of Antarctica the size of Delaware, the Larsen Ice Shelf C, broke off in 2017, and the stability of the ice sheets and ice shelves is now in question · The last few years have been the hottest ever recorded in human history · The Earth’s average temperature has increased by about 1.3 degrees Celsius in the past century · On average, summer is about one week longer than it was in the past · We are seeing more and more “one-hundred-year events,” such as forest fires, floods, droughts, and hurricanes".
This facts need no more comment other that the continuing increases in our A/C bills and home owners insurance cost. This crisis IS URGENT a can be handled by voting for smart, uncorrupted and humanity loving politicians.
Painful to say this, but not only is my country the greatest purveyor of violence on earth at this time, but it is also the greatest purveyor of idiotic propaganda. Even more painful is the fact that most fellow citizens are unaware if either fact. Nothing new in the Durham report, but why was it released now?
It should of course been released earlier, but as they say better late then never. Maybe if it had been released earlier Trump and not Biden would have won in 2020, which is an indictment of Durham who moves very slowly especially when nothing really new is in the report, or wasn't know before.
"Nothing new" if one keeps their head in the same sand hole.
OK, what new fact did you learn from this 'report' that you didn't know before? I am asking seriously, not just rhetorically.
I think there were two charges brought by Durham that he was hoping to bolster the report’s credibility. I don’t remember the specifics, but the timing of the release of the report was affected by the slow court process. Ultimately his inability to get guilty verdicts will be seized by the true believers as evidence that the investigation was unnecessary.
I am no fan of Trump, but the extra-legal practices that his unexpected 2016 election exposed ought to make a lot of liberals and moderates uncomfortable.
Now you see, the question belies some misunderstanding of the situation. What I knew is a pile of evidence that has developed mostly from the Twitter Files. However, there was a lot of bad behavior suspected but without clear evidence. The Durham report puts a nail the coffin of a partially well-decomposed body of evidence. Now we know, we can say we know... and those that continue to push the lie are specifically guilty of intellectual dishonesty... a moral crime FAR worse than is cult-belief ignorance.
Why released now? To be used as a cudgel by DOJ on the FBI, who are afraid of being defunded, and who are seeing the utility of standing up on their hind legs and attacking administration corruption. Bulldogs fighting under the carpet.
Almost never mentioned when discussing *actual* and *effective* foreign influence in American elections is Israel. Or dare I dispense with the "almost", at least in the mainstream news and journalism ecosystem.
Someone’s antisemitism seems to be showing.
Someone's conflation of Israeli policy and Judaism is showing.
LOL I'm surprised morons think that kind of false smear, lacking any proof whatsoever, still works. Well, I guess it did with the scope and scale you were able to get Corbyn with; and of course the subject of today's article. Anyway, take it up with these raving anti-Semites at The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-israel-collusion/
And the Jew haters on the Senate Intelligence Committee: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190606-israels-interference-in-2016-us-election-to-be-probed-by-senators/ (wonder what ever happened to that?)
And the self-hating Jews of The Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/redacted-fbi-document-hints-at-israeli-efforts-to-help-trump-in-2016-campaign/
Soros has been causing anti-Israel rage to live rent free in your head. And apparently it has corrupted quite a few that subscribe to this Substack.
Does Israel have a right to exist?
Soros owns The Nation? US Senators? Talk about someone living rent free in one's head. LOL if you think Soros is the reason that most of us that recognize the crimes of Israel, aided and abetted by the US and UK, then you're completely delusional.
Does Israel have "the right to exist"? That isn't for me to determine. All I can say is that their actions, in their region, will dictate the terms of their existence. Things aren't looking good for them at the moment. I read an interesting article somewhere the other day talking about how, by giving nearly full leeway to the ultra-orthodox sects in their settlement building, which of course entails stealing even more land and property from Palestinian Arabs, for so many years the liberal Zionists who have historically kept Israel's worst impulses in check have ceded control to the far right Zionists who now control most of the government. In this period, many of the more educated liberal/centrist Israelis have left the country for Europe and elsewhere leaving behind a growing majority of far-right ultra-orthodox, and frankly backwards uneducated (except in certain religious and ultra-nationalist scripts) hyper-religious regressive nutjobs. So even without the issues with Hamas and the Palestinians, Israeli society has fractured and might not be repairable.
Do I think a settler-colonial apartheid state has the right to exist? Not in its present form, no. If by some miracle they reformed, admitted they have nukes and abided by international (or their own stated) laws? Sure, why not?
So you are clearly an antisemite and terrorism sympathizer. Your support of the corrupt and murderous Palestinian regime over Israel, a country that has given more to the world since its founding than have all Muslim nations combined when subtracting the global cost of Islamic terrorism and oil money corruption, is a clear marker. You go to bed hating Israel and wake up hating Israel... and what it really means is that you hate Jews and want them exterminated.
It is not looking good for Israel only because your kind have again multiplied and have seized a level of power. It is too early to claim your victory. Things are not looking good for the future of woke antisemitism.
Who's playing the victim here?
Ah, so you're a Hasbarat. Ever heard of the Nakba? Was that justified?
My kind? As I laid out in my previous reply it's the exact opposite of my kind that are now in control and to whom the demographic shift away from European Ashkenazi liberal Jews and toward ultra-Zionist, ultra-nationalist, ultra-orthodox uneducated settlers and land thieves will grant almost total future power.
“Right to their homeland” LOL. Do you have any statute of limitations for those corrections? So only people with adequate indigenous ties to land should live there and the rest should be expelled? Wow, what a fucked up world that would make. You should start… do your DNA test and get the fuck out of here and go where you belong instead of occupying space that isn’t yours.
Here’s the thing. Palestinians suck victim Kool Aide like do American liberals and their low capability “care” subjects. Israel with all its faults is an order of magnitude more valuable to the world than are the Palestinians. Part of the problem is Islam. It needs a reformation. Name an Islamic country today that is a positive add to the world… without oil money. Turkey maybe. Injecting more Islam into Israel would make it self-destruct. Just like injecting more liberal progressive into American cities are making them self destruct.
And stupid idea about returning the Black Hills. You must know it is 2023, right?
All of which you write hurts, deeply. A visit to Seattle a couple years ago shocked. The explosion of houseless people with their fragile cramped tents all over the place where the land was level astonished. And reminded me of fotos of refugee camp villages. Our own people, refugees in the land of their birth. How can anyone taking that fact in not realize the brutality of our free enterprise corporatized system must be stopped?
The realization is coming and people is fed up of Krapitalism. "Give enough rope to a thief and he will hang himself"
Proverb
I was interviewed (and interrogated and intimidated) by an FBI agent, along with a Homeland Security investigator and a Hunterdon County Prosecutor, at my home, for merely taking photographs of oil refineries and chemical plants along the Delaware River ("critical infrastructure"). They openly accused me of possibly being a domestic terrorist. (and this was AFTER I had been detained by several local, State, and private police forces, photographed, and questioned for over an hour about the incident, including illegally searching my car and seizing personal documents).
The fact that no FBI agents interviewed witnesses and investigated these claims before the FBI launched a major federal criminal investigation is strong evidence of blatant abuse of power.
Good point. Note that absolutely no consequences for the FBI malfeasance are suggested in the 'report'. When the FBI lies to the public, when the CIA lies to the public, when the president lies to the public and these folks abuse their power there are NO consequences, except for a (maybe) belated mealy-mouthed report. Accountability ends where US Government begins.
Truth matters. Thank you Chris Hedges for this piece. It needs to said again and again. The Russia Gate story was lies, it was manipulation, it was a violation of public trust. And yet no one has been held accountable. The liberal media ( Deep state propaganda machine?) doesnt even cover the story much less apologize for their role or excoriate the actors. Come has a documentary on Netflix that makes him out to be a hero. Hilary still gets hundreds of thousands of dollars to give speeches.
I always get so much out of your work. Thanks for publishing this. I understand and mostly agree with the irrationality of our system here in the US. Today so much of that comes from a merged force, in my opinion, of the neo-cons (free market) and Christian fundamentalists and those quite happy with very low union density and an over abundance of corporate control.
It doesn’t matter whether you are pro USA or pro-Russian. both Donald Trump (you’re fired) and Putin are of the same mold. So are Netanyahu, Orban, etc. these are politicians who are authoritarian, bullies, who are bought by these neo-cons and religious fundamentalists. It’s a very organized force. With many, many billionaires’ support.
I too think we are on the cusp of totalitarian and religious fundamentalist rule. Here in Fl. It’s almost fiat complete.
I just wanted to amend, by saying it is your critique of the irrationality of the system, that I agree with…
The essence of Chris H. article is simply that it is not ok to lie, even about a potential demagogue like DT. The lies lead to mistrust of the systems meant to safeguard the truths. The truth tellers are ostracized and destroyed.
This leads to chaos.
Trump all by himself is a menace . No one had to tell me this or talk me into believing it .
Im sorry but the idea that every investigation of Donald Trump is drummed up by devious Democrats forming a ‘witch hunt ‘ because they don’t like Donald is an interesting theory . And laying blame for inequality at the feet of Democrats is way too easy .
The Federalist Society, the Koch Brothers have been buying up supreme Court Justices and laying out the plans for continuing to serve the wealthiest Americans .
They’ve gerrymandered
Maps , attempted to overthrow a free election with Trumps encouragement .
Im not saying the US in general is a paradise. I understand that there have been many situations where corruption has ruled .
This article however conveys that all of the bad is because of Democrats and the FBI . Sorry i just cant see it .
This might all be, BUT THE TRUTH HAS TO STAY THE TRUTH (and this RussiaHysteria brought us an escalating and totally unnecessary war with an ever growing possibility for a nuclear WW3)
Russia of their own accord went after Ukraine as theyve done so many times before or threatened to . Russia does not get
to share accountability for their behaviors . In this instance . They are every bit responsible .
Make it all about the Trump Russia ‘hoax ‘
They both have a hand in their reputations .
As Chris has said the Rise of Trump demagoguery was from income inequality and a precarious future of low wages and under employment. The one thing that many people miss is who seeded the future MAGA for all the wrong reasons. I will lay a lot of the blame on Koch brother dark money and the Tea Party. Their followers were horrified with this "revolution" and election of the first black president Obama and started a counter- revolution. The Koch mindset goes way back to the Coconut Grove millionaires and the John Birch Society power elite. The Koch led cohort of the dark money takeover of municipal then state politics led directly to the rise of a Trump like figure. He is their Frankenstein, a flawed child of privilege who did all their dirty work. Tax cuts for the rich, stacking the Supreme Court, Unquestioning support for Israel, Anti Labor, Anti healthcare, Anti Social Safety net, Pro Oil, Pro coal, Deregulation, Anti Science and Anti Public School to name a few. The MAGA sheep nodding in some kind of drugged miasma that make their lot in life even worse. Like the the animal "volk" in Orwell's Animal Farm. Propaganda dogma turned on a dime from "Four legs good, Two legs bad" into "Four legs Good, Two legs Better" without their notice. The power of Jim Crow thinking was/is a divide and conquer move to rule. Working poor whites have a lot more in common with working poor blacks than Trump and his Puppet Master Oligarchs that control both parties with the same Benjamins, stolen from blacks and whites alike! As LBJ once said "tell a poor white shareholder that he is better than a Ni--er", you can steal his money forever".
the quote should have said "tell a poor white "Sharecropper" not shareholder.
Thanks for the article. It helped to put all the "noise" around this issue in perspective. It helps to explain the "Putin is the devil and Hitler" myths along with others, e.g., the war in Ukraine has a military solution to bring us closer to peace.
Binary thinking coupled with American Exceptionalism is ignorance in action and as Goethe once said: "There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance in action."
You are right, the myths and lack of critical thinking is alarming.
Read Proof of Collusion, by Seth Abramson. Just the facts mam.
LOL. I hope that was sarcasm. Almost everything in that 2018 book is disproven by the Mueller and Durham reports. If anything, it was Israel that worked hard to interfere on Trump's behalf, but Abramson is just as hung up on the Russia myth as those Hedges mentions in this article. Perfect example, actually, of someone so convinced of a foregone, preconceived notion that they will work backwards and engage in any type of mental gymnastics necessary to prove they are right.
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/seth-abramson-twitter.php
"Abramson has also held on to his pet theories. On his podcast, and in his first Proof book, he makes arguments based on the Steele dossier. (Remember the Steele dossier? You know, the pee tape thing.) The reliability of the Steele dossier is, to put it mildly, in question; a report by Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, found that the dossier was dubious, unvetted, and shady as hell. Of course, people still believe it and defend it—Abramson continues to cling to it uncritically—but the point is: it falls short of proof. Journalism, of the meta or curatorial sort, isn’t worth much if it can’t meet that standard. And that’s the trouble with Abramson’s interpretive threads. Pull on any one of them, and the whole tapestry unravels."
Even the WaPo guy who was part of the Pulitzer winning team has to admit that there is no proof of anything. The truth is, Abramson should be made to remove the word "Proof" from the title of that book.
Competing narratives here devolve into myopic distortions to paint a one-sided picture.
Perhaps it stems from a valid alarm at the demonization of Russia and the insanity of the Ukrainian war. But twisting history never seems a good idea.
The false equivalence here with QAnon stuns me. Are we to doubt that Felix Sater’s, Deripaska’s, and Moguleyvich’s dollars had influence? That the delivery of the Republican GOP voter demos to a Russian intelligence agency happened? That the Mueller report, far from exonerating Trump, actually stopped short of indictment because senior Trump team members and Trump himself could not be compelled to testify under oath, and because Barr and others believe a sitting President cannot be indicted?
It does seem that the defeat of Clinton was not solely or even mainly the work of Russians. FB and Cambridge Analytica had a part in the Russian ops too. But the biggest factor has been the decades of perfidious corruption of the Democratic Party, which betrays its base over and over, yes.
But the Russian ops in collaboration with others such as Israel and MBZ, in alliance with who lost out when the Gasprom alliance fell to sanctions, surely made a difference on the margins. Hedges myopia here seems odd.
Mass psychosis.
I used to think most people were like me... able to wade through the BS and snake oil and come to a logical conclusions based only on the big picture of facts and truth.
Wow is all I can say to this epiphany that people could be so easily and completely indoctrinated into a new media mythology that they then refuse to let go.
I also used to think that the founders were overly excitable over the prospects of destructive tyranny and all its forms after western civilization entered the era of modernity. With rare exception, my class mates, coworkers and neighbors all seemed normal and rational. But now many of those same people literally froth at the mouth in anger at anyone that would claim Trump-Russia collusion was a big lie and coup attempt by the nation's elite political class.
Today, in addition to my understanding that we need to defeat these people and their mythology, I have a greater appreciation for how the Great Experiment has lasted this long given the proven propensity for the "smartest" members of our population to be so easily sucked into a self-destructive worldview.
Your post is a fascinating example of someone that can offer a coherent explanation of the social chaos we live in, yet be completely out on another planet on a specific topic. I found your anti-Palestinian posts inexcusable and intellectually dishonest.
Soros and others have been investing in pro Palestinan anti Israel media narratives. I consider it all part of the set of the same elite luxury worldview that is purposely destructive to western civilization. I will admit that my knowledge of the Palestinan vs Israel conflict is weaker than other topics. But the Palestinans still talk about wiping Israel off the map and have rejected all two state deals... and hence are on my shit list.
In that case, your knowledge of the conflict is not up to the standard of the rest of your studies. My favorite book on this subject is Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. He's an Israeli historian that took tremendous shit for laying out what actually happened at the birth of the State of Israel.
Your recitals about Palestinian rejections of peace deals are incorrect. And there is no two state solution possible anymore, because of the settlers.
I so hope people wake up soon. It's such a sad time with all the lies and corruption and the curtains of the myth that is America are pulled and America is not at all what most people think it is. It just leaves a heavy sadness on the heart and it also makes one so angry. It doesn't have to be this way, but there's just too many greed filled, power mad people in the world.